These brownies are simple to make and have all the qualities you want in a brownie. They’re rich, fudgy, moist, and chocolatey, yet are vegan friendly, gluten free, and naturally sweetened!
If there’s one treat I’m always in the mood for, it’s brownies. Although I love chocolate, I’m pretty particular about the form in which I enjoy it. I’m not too big of a candy lover, so I can usually pass on truffles and candy bars, but I do love me some chocolate cake and fudgy brownies! Chocolate cake has been fairly simple to recreate with healthier ingredients, but I’ve had a tough time making a good vegan-friendly brownie, especially a fudgy one. Fudgy brownies typically rely on the help of several eggs/egg yolks and a high fat content. To give these brownies extra fudginess, I used oat flour, which has a nice chewy texture, instead of all-purpose and coconut oil for the fat (although butter also works.) I also added a nice handful of chocolate chips so there are melty chocolate pockets in each bite! 😋 
I tested these half a dozen times at least, trying different flours, sugars, etc. to figure out the right combo. Without the use of eggs, it was tricky to get these to hold together with certain ingredients. They did not turn out well using melted chocolate, so I opted for cocoa powder instead, and they also did not firm up with regular or brown sugar, although the end product was like unset fudge and was SO good eaten with a spoon! They actually worked quite well with coconut sugar though, the only problem being they were a bit more cakey than I like, so I just needed to watch them in the oven and take them out as soon as they were done…you don’t want to over bake these. I thought to combine coconut and brown sugar to hopefully get a texture in between raw fudge and cakey and was pleasantly surprised with the results! Substituting a little of the coconut sugar with brown sugar added in the fudginess that I love in a brownie, so if you’re a fellow gooey brownie lover, see the recipe notes for more info on that hack! 
All in all, I’m super happy with the way these turned out! And to think it only took a couple bags of coconut sugar, a tub of cocoa powder, and half a container of oats to finally create the perfect gluten-free and vegan friendly FUDGY brownie! Enjoy, friends! 🤗
Fudgy Oat Brownies
- Total Time: 25 mins
- Yield: 16 bars 1x
Description
These brownies are simple to make and have all the qualities you want in a brownie. They’re rich, fudgy, moist, and chocolatey, yet are vegan friendly, gluten free, and naturally sweetened!
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup coconut oil or butter, melted use refined coconut oil
for less coconut flavor
- 2 cups coconut sugar
* (I don’t recommend subbing with a different sweetener; see notes)
- 2/3 cup brewed coffee or water
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups oat flour** use certified gluten free oat flour
if necessary
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons tapioca flour
(Don’t omit! This acts as a binder)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips or roughly chopped chocolate pieces (use dairy-free if needed)
for less coconut flavor
* (I don’t recommend subbing with a different sweetener; see notes)
if necessary
(Don’t omit! This acts as a binder)Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease an 8×8 or 9×9 pan or line with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together melted oil/butter and coconut sugar. Add half of the coffee/water and vanilla extract, stirring until well combined. Add oat flour, cocoa powder, tapioca flour and salt, mixing just until incorporated. Stir in remaining coffee/water and chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and place into preheated oven. Bake for 25–35 minutes, depending on pan size. Brownies may appear undercooked, but begin to solidify and firm up as they cool. Remove pan from the oven and let cool completely before slicing. Makes 12–16 bars, depending on how large you slice them.
Notes
*Try substituting half the coconut sugar with brown sugar for extra fudgy brownies (That would be 1 cup coconut sugar and 1 cup brown sugar. Recipe doesn’t work with all brown sugar though. Tried it and brownies never firmed up.)
**oat flour can be made by finely grinding whole rolled oats in a coffee grinder or food processor. Should be ground finely; more powdery than coarse. Measure flour after grinding, not the oats before grinding.
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Category: dessert, vegan, gluten free
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Double Chocolate Zucchini Bars
No-Bake Fudgy Brownies
Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies
Threw my batch in the trash. Had the same oil pooling problem as another bake. I tried taking out the brownies as time but they deflated because of said pooling but when I left it to bake until the pooling had minimized, the brownies were rock hard. Baker be warned.
I’m so sorry these didn’t turn out for you, Lin. I know it’s frustrating to waste ingredients. Did you by chance make any substitutions? I’ve made these so many times and have had numerous readers tag me in photos/stories of their successful batch of brownies, so I’m not sure why a few people have had issues with them not setting. The tapioca flour is essential to helping them firm up, so as long as you used the correct amount, I’m not sure what else the problem could be without more information. Again, I’m really sorry these didn’t work for you.
These were fantastic! After trying your simple cinnamon buns, knew these would come out superb.
I didn’t have any coca powder, so instead used hot Chocolate Mix. Used a touch less than what you call for given its ingredients. Still delish!
I’m so happy you enjoyed these Alexis! Love your idea of using hot cocoa in these too! What a yummy idea! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review! Hope you’re having a wonderful week!
What if u dont have tapioca?
Hi Claudia, I haven’t tried it, but arrowroot starch might work. Cornstarch may also work, but as its thickening power is stronger than tapioca, you would need to use less, maybe 1 1/2 tablespoons instead of 3. Like I said, I haven’t tried any substitutions, so please let me know how it works if you give either of these a try! 🙂
I made these brownies today. The only thing I did differently was added walnuts instead of the chips. After baking for 45 minutes, I have nothing but a layer of coconut oil on top of what looks like raw brownie batter. I am no stranger to baking but maybe I’m missing something here.
Hi Tiara, I’m so sorry these didn’t turn out for you. After receiving your comment, I quickly made a batch to see if I had any of the of the same issues you mentioned and the brownies turned out fine for me. They were in the oven just under 30 minutes and are cooked thoroughly. Did you by chance use teaspoons instead of tablespoons to measure the tapioca flour? I know from testing the recipe that oat flour alone will never firm up so it needs the tapioca flour, which acts as a binder. Also, if you made your own oat flour and it was ground too coarse, it can definitely affect the consistency of the brownies. The last thing is that I’ve never tried these without chocolate chips, so it’s possible that substituting them with walnuts, which is an oily nut, could’ve made them more oily? Not sure, but just trying to think of everything that could’ve went wrong for you. Again, I’m really sorry you didn’t enjoy these.
I did grind the oats myself, so that may have been the problem. I only used walnuts in half the batch, so I’m sure that wasn’t the issue. Funny thing is, I’m great at baking none vegan things but every vegan dessert never works for me.
Just stumbled across your site! Everything looks amazing and I can’t wait to start cooking! I subscribed to your newsletter as well! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much, Valerie! Please let me know if I can help you find anything. Have a wonderful week!
Oh my gosh, these look SO fudgy and delicious! I need these in my life! Your other brownie recipes look amazing as well!
-Jennifer
https://maunelegacy.com
Yum! These look so delicious! I need to save this recipe so I can make it one of these weekends! Mmmm.. I love brownies. I love that this uses alternative healthy ingredients, too!
These brownies look amazing. I never have made them with oat flour before only AP. Will have to give this a go.
WOW! These brownies look and sounds amazing! Indulging and comforting ♥
Wow, these look so amazing. I’ve always wanted to try cooking with coconut flour and oat flour for healthy recipes. Do the dairy free chocolate chips taste that much different than regular?
Hi Crystal, thank you so much! No, dairy-free chocolate chips don’t taste much different than regular ones, however, this recipe doesn’t necessarily need dairy-free chocolate chips. I was originally going to make these brownies vegan, but decided to make it optional. I just forgot to update that part of the recipe 😉 If you’re interested in good dairy-free chocolate chips though, Enjoy Life is a good brand and sold in most grocery stores! Let me know if you give these a try!
All of these brownies look decadent and delicious! I love how you added chunks of chocolate to the recipe! I will have to try these out ASAP!
xo – Kam
Aw thank you Kamree!